


Surrender

by Poetry



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: BDSM, Biting, Bondage, Breathplay, Cousin Incest, Dom/sub, Established Relationship, Femdom, Gangbang, Guilt, Hand Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies, Knifeplay, Multi, PWP, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Remix, Rimming, Smut, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-01-12 19:05:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1196106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poetry/pseuds/Poetry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somewhere along the line, the Animorphs discovered that the best way to deal with their pain was to find more beautiful ways to hurt each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm Your Man

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Sad Kittens](https://archiveofourown.org/works/815516) by [Demenior](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demenior/pseuds/Demenior), [neinlives](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neinlives/pseuds/neinlives). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the war, Jake needs a reminder of where he belongs, and who he belongs to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Demenior in the Animorphs Remix Challenge.
> 
> _If you want a lover_  
>  _I'll do anything you ask me to_  
>  _And if you want another kind of love_  
>  _I'll wear a mask for you_  
>  _If you want a partner_  
>  _Take my hand_  
>  _Or if you want to strike me down in anger_  
>  _Here I stand_  
>  _I'm your man_  
>  – Leonard Cohen

I leap between the ruined rooftops of what was once Santa Barbara and think about my claws.

There were so many times when I could have used them, and didn’t. Could have killed David in that fight at the mall. Could have rescued Tom from that first, desperate fight at the Yeerk pool, when I had a chance. Could have killed Tom myself, instead of letting Rachel do it.

A wave of hunger hits. I can’t remember the last time I ate. Well, I could use my claws now. Plenty of wild animals roaming the ruined city. I could bring one down, light a fire in a trash can, roast the meat. That feels right, hunting and eating like an animal. 

I sink into the tiger’s mind, let it take the wheel. I leap off the rooftop so I can prowl unseen in the rubble. I smell, then see, a family of deer in a patch of weeds. I skulk behind a pile of stones. I’ll take the smallest one; it’ll be the slowest and easiest to catch.

«Jake! Nod if you can hear me.»

Whispers in my head. Distractions. I flatten myself to the ground, lying in wait for the pounce.

«Jake, it’s me, Marco. We’ve all been worried out of our minds. How long have you been in morph, man?»

I shift from side to side, readying myself. I spring. The fawn is a little too fast and slips beyond my grasp. I growl in frustration.

A new smell, strange. I turn. There’s a big monkey, too strong for me to risk taking on. It comes toward me, reaches out, grasps my face. «Get a grip, Jake, buddy. It’s me. It’s Marco. Tell me you can hear me. Give me a sign, OK?»

Sharp-edged laughter, small clever hands, streaks of maple syrup on his lips in the morning – Marco’s here, Marco’s _worried_ , why didn’t I notice? «’M sorry, Marco.»

«Shh. Hey, bud, I need you to focus. When’s the last time you demorphed?»

I think. Before I decided to hunt, it was just rooftop after rooftop, and thoughts that never changed no matter which form I took. «Dunno,» I say, leaning into the touch of his rough gorilla hands.

«You’ve gotta demorph. Please, Jake, I need you back. Think about your body, right? All pink and way too tall and that happy trail that drives me crazy every time your shirt rides up, that body, come on, I need to see it.»

«Right,» I mumble. Yes, my body, my skin that comes alive when Marco touches it. I think about his grip on my shoulder, and my front legs groan in their sockets. I think about Cassie’s lips on my cheek, and my face flattens. Marco pulls his hands away to let me morph, and I would cry at the loss of contact if I could, but my eyes are still the tiger’s.

When I’m human again, Marco catches me as I sway on my feet. «When did you last eat, Jake?»

“Dunno,” I mumble into his chest. I’m shaking and crying and I try not to let the others see me like this, completely broken down, but I can’t help it. “Didn’t seem important.”

«How long have you been out here? What were you doing? You nearly got stuck.»

“I…” The words stick in my throat, though I don’t even know what they are yet – maybe just sobs and desperate gibberish.

«I just don’t understand,» Marco says, almost pleading. «You do know we love you, right? That we’ve been through all the same awful crap you have? Whatever’s eating you, man, tell us about it and we’ll listen. It’s not like we can judge you.»

“Rachel could,” I said. “I made her kill Tom. She wakes up screaming about it every night, and it’s my fault. I could have saved him. I could have killed him myself. He was my responsibility and I made her do it, because – because I thought it was the right job for her. Like she was a gun I could just point at Tom, like it would be easier if I pulled the trigger and sent her after him than if I did it myself, and now Rachel blames herself! But it’s me, Marco, it’s me. I’m fucked up. All of you are just chess pieces to me, even when I’m sleeping with all of you, _fuck._ Don’t you see? You’re not my boyfriends or girlfriend or lovers, you’re just my weapons!”

I was shouting by the end. My face is hot and my chest rises and falls like a piston. Marco waits for my breathing to slow before he says, «Jake, I had Visser One in the palm of my hand. I could have killed her. My mom could have gone free, right then. But I didn’t. I put that slug back in her head. Did I make my mom into a weapon?»

“She told you to do it,” I say. “She knew what she was getting into.”

«So did Rachel.»

“You think she expected to go through hell like this?” I shout.

«No. But you would have gone through worse, if it had been you instead. You’re not the only one with the power to decide, Jake. You never were.» He takes me by the shoulders and pushes me back a little. Even in thought-speak, I can hear a familiar note in his voice when he says, «I think we need to remind you of that. Get wings. Now.»

The thought of another morph is exhausting. “Are you sure – ”

«Yes.»

My morph is slower than usual, but Marco has to go back to human first, so we take to the sky at the same time. Rachel finds us almost immediately. «Jake, are you okay? Where were you?»

«I’m fine,» I say automatically.

«He was in Santa Barbara near his old house, like you said. He nearly got stuck in tiger morph. Go ahead and tell Cassie to get the rope ready.»

I knew this was coming, but I feel that shiver of terror and anticipation just as strongly as I always do. «I don’t need rope. I’m fine.»

«I don’t hear a safeword,» Marco singsongs. 

«No way am I leaving him alone,» Rachel says. «Hey, Tobias! Can you hear me?»

«Little – let me – » A distant red-brown silhouette soars closer. «Yeah?»

«Can you go ahead and tell Cassie to get the ropes ready? And maybe the blindfold too.»

There’s a beat of silence, one I’ve come to understand as an interlude of private thought-speak. «All right. I’m on my way. And don’t worry, Jake. We got you. We’ll take care of you.»

«You can’t pull this crap on us,» Rachel says. «You know we’ll just find you anyway. We’ll tie you down forever if we have to.»

«You wouldn’t want that. You’d have to feed me all my meals with a spoon,» I say. It’s all a game, anyway. We all know I could morph out of the ropes, but I don’t, except for a couple of times when I had a flashback and panicked.

«We could do it,» says Marco. «We’d take turns. Feed Jake. Bring him one of those portable urinals. Give him sponge baths. Ooh, bondage sponge bath, I like that idea.»

«You wouldn’t. You shouldn’t. I’m not worth it.»

«That is such crap,» says Rachel. «We’ll show you.»

When we get to Cassie’s place, on the edge of town where the devastation didn’t quite reach, the lights are out. I wouldn’t worry even if they were on – I’m pretty sure Cassie’s parents know she sleeps in the barn sometimes, and maybe even suspect the rest of us do too, even if they don’t really want to know.

Rachel and Marco manage to demorph first – I’m still shaky from so many two-hour shifts as a tiger – and the looks on their faces make me hard as soon as I’m fully human. I wonder why Rachel still wants me, and search her face for an answer. I see her beauty, her pride, and a possessive hunger. Well, she’s right about that: I am hers. Her twin, her flipside, her shadow.

They each take one of my shoulders and draw me in. Cassie is standing there with a rope coiled around one arm, holding a loop of it in her other hand. Ax stands behind her. Tobias is perched on her shoulder. My knees shake.

“It’s all right,” she says. “You can kneel.”

I fall to my knees so fast that they tingle and go numb with the impact. Rachel’s and Marco’s hands are still on my shoulders.

“Say you’re sorry,” Cassie says. Her voice is gentle, but firm, like a disappointed teacher. I don’t want to disappoint her.

“I’m sorry, Cassie,” I say, staring at the hay-strewn floor at her feet.

“Not just me,” she says. “You hurt all of us with what you did. Right?”

“Damn right you did,” says Rachel.

«I thought some rogue Controllers might have kidnapped you,» says Tobias. «There’s a band of them living somewhere out in the Dry Lands with a portable Kandrona.»

“I was so relieved when I saw you I thought I was going to explode,” says Marco.

«I was very concerned for your welfare, Prince Jake.»

“I’m sorry,” I rasp. Tears blur my vision. “I’m so sorry.”

“Tobias said you think Jake needs to be tied up, Marco. Why is that?” Cassie asks.

“He won’t share his guilt,” says Marco. “He thinks he should have killed Tom so Rachel wouldn’t have to suffer. But in the immortal words of Uncle Ben, with mighty interstellar war morphing power comes mighty interstellar war responsibility, so we all have plenty to go around. I thought the rope might get the message into his thick head.”

Cassie nods to Tobias, and he flutters over to Ax’s shoulder. She bends down and kisses the top of my head. “It’s not all on you, Jake. It never was.” Then she wraps a loop of rope behind my neck. If I softened in the last couple minutes, the embrace of her rope has me aching again.

Her hands are firm and sure as she ties a knot between my collarbones, another on my sternum, another at the base of my ribcage, another at my navel. “Knees apart,” she says, and I spread them a little, so she can wrap the ropes around the tops of my thighs a few times, the backs of her hands just brushing against my erection. She passes the ropes back between my legs to Rachel. “Cross and knot,” she says, and I can feel Rachel’s hands at the base of my spine, tying a knot and passing the ropes back to Cassie. She passes them around and through the ropes on my chest, between the bottom two knots, and gives them back to Rachel. Back and forth they go, until they come back over my shoulders. The rope squeezes me like a hug.

Cassie pulls my arms in front of me so my wrists cross. She takes the rope ends and ties my hands that way. There’s still rope left after that, so she says, “Up.” Rachel and Marco grab hold of the ropes on my back and haul me to me my feet, and Cassie uses the rest to tie my legs together just below the knee, finally knotting the ends. She slides a finger under the ropes on my wrists and legs, checking my circulation, and presses kisses to where the hemp rubs my skin.

“Thanks for the help,” Cassie says to Rachel and Marco, and kisses them fiercely over my shoulder. I can hear their lips and tongues move against each other, but I can’t see. It’s maddening.

«I love seeing you like this,» Tobias says, with quiet satisfaction.

“Why?” I ask. My voice has a ragged edge.

«Because your brain just stops. You’re not a general anymore. You’re just Jake.»

Cassie steps aside so Ax can come forward. His quadrupled gaze roves over my body. I don’t know what it gives him, seeing me like this. But I know what he can give me. I say, “Please.”

FWAPP!

In an instant, Ax’s blade is at my throat. If I breathe too hard, it will raise beads of blood against my skin. I breathe gently. Ax could kill me, but I know as well as up from down that he never would.

He ghosts his fingertips along my cheek, rasping against the stubble there. He presses his fingers to my lips in a kiss. I open my mouth and let my little swells of breath warm his fingers. He likes that.

His other hand finds the outline of my dick in my bike shorts, and suddenly it’s a struggle to keep control of my breath. I let a long, happy exhale leave my nose as he traces maddeningly gentle patterns over my crotch.

«Your orders, Prince Jake?» says Ax. He always says this, and it never gets any less hot, damn him.

Even with my eyes half-slitted I can see Tobias perched on Ax’s shoulder still, watching. “Oh God,” I gasp, “pull these bike shorts down and touch me.”

Ax’s stalk eyes turn to Cassie for approval.

She comes up behind me, wraps her arms around my waist, and tilts her head up to say in my ear, “Promise not to run away on your own again. Promise you won’t do this to us again. Then I’ll let him touch you.”

I shiver. Some nights I feel like running away is the only thing that will save me. But that’s not right at all. _This_ is what will save me.

“I promise. To all of you. Cassie, Rachel, Marco, Ax, Tobias. I won’t do it again. Maybe I’ll fuck up in other ways. But I won’t do that.”

Cassie reaches under the ropes and yanks down my bike shorts. She bites the edge of my shoulder blade just as Ax kisses the head of my cock with his fingers, and a bead of fluid rises to meet his touch. Tobias stares with laser intensity at the place where Ax and I join. Marco starts kissing the side of my neck, near where Ax’s blade hovers a millimeter from my skin, and I can feel Rachel’s breath on my ass and _oh my God that’s her tongue._

They take me apart. My hips rock back and forth, desperately, trapped between the torments of Ax’s hand and Rachel’s tongue, while I breathe desperately through my nose, feeling the beads of blood rise along my throat anyway. Cassie’s bites burn on my shoulder blades and hipbones, Marco half-sobs between kisses to my neck, and Tobias watches it all with hungry, bottomless eyes.

When I come, Rachel, Marco, and Cassie have to grab my ropes to keep me from falling. Ax takes his blade away and lets me gulp down air. He holds his hand up to his face, watching beads of my come roll down his palm to drip onto the barn floor.

“Come,” says Cassie, pulling me by the ropes. “I put out blankets.”

The first layer is horse blankets, with softer ones piled on top. I am guided gently down, and Cassie loosens the ropes around my wrists and legs so my limbs don’t lose circulation while I sleep. I could get out of them without even morphing, now, but I’m not tempted for even a second. Cassie, Rachel, and Marco surround me, while Ax and Tobias take position beside and above us like bizarre guardian angels. They have me. They’ve got me.

How could I have thought they were my weapons, my victims, my _anything_ , when it’s so clearly the reverse?


	2. Batter My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the nightmares are too much, they have three ways out: cuddle together, fight together, or fuck together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> De-anon'd from the Animorphs kink meme.
> 
>  _Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you_  
>  _As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;_  
>  _That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend_  
>  _Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new._  
>  – John Donne

Cassie wakes to the sound of gentle rapping at her window. She throws it open. The great horned owl on her windowsill says, < It's crawling in my head. I feel like it might claw its way out and attack someone. I need to get it out. >

"What is it?" says Cassie, because you can never be too sure about metaphors, in the life she leads.

< Nightmare. What else? > says Rachel.

"All right," says Cassie. "Cuddle it out, fight it out, or fuck it out?"

< Fuck it out. Definitely. I need all of you. >

"All right. Go find Tobias and wait with him. I'll get Jake and Marco."

< Thank you. >

Rachel flies toward the meadow, and Cassie morphs owl herself. None of them ever get enough sleep, but none of them can say no to this, whatever call for help might come to their windows in the dark of night. They've all needed this, at some point or another, and there's no judgment no matter which they choose: cuddle it out, fight it out, fuck it out.

Their owl ears are so sharp, they've only just flown out beyond Cassie's barn when they can hear that Rachel's gotten started already. They hear her sharp little cries, Tobias' steady murmurs. It drives Cassie half-mad. She likes to see that first moment, when Rachel opens up to pleasure.

They find her in Ax's scoop, moaning into Tobias' mouth as Ax's many delicate fingers hold her labia open, exposing her, the tips of them feathering across her clit and dipping just a little inside her. His other hand strokes her face and neck. Tobias' hands are on her breasts, teasing her nipples, already pricked against the cool air. Rachel kisses him frantically, her fingers tugging at his hair. He gives appreciative little sighs of pain.

< I thought I told you to wait, > Cassie says as she begins to demorph.

< Yeah, no fair getting started without us, > Marco says.

Tobias' hands move down to Rachel's waist, and he pulls from the kiss slowly. His lips are swollen and red, his hair wild. Ax pulls his hand from between Rachel's legs. His fingers glisten with her wetness. He keeps his other hand on her neck. Rachel licks her lips and stares at Cassie defiantly.

< We are sorry, Cassie, > Ax says. < We did not know you meant us to wait. And I do like kissing her there… > He holds his dampened fingers up to his own face, his slitted nostrils flaring.

"You're not the only one," Jake says, rough, his eyes lingering on the trail of moisture on Rachel's inner thigh.

"I needed them," Rachel says.

"You need all of us," Cassie says, her mouth newly formed. "And you came to me first. Because you know that I can always tell what you need."

She reaches out, her arms still strangely jointed and covered in feathers, and pulls Rachel toward her. Cassie's eyes are huge and yellow and intent. "Are you going to do this my way or not?" she asks.

"Yes," Rachel breathes against her mouth.

"All right," says Cassie, and morphs away all of the owl except the eyes, because she wants to see every detail. "Say stop if you need us to. But now we start."

Cassie rubs her palm between Rachel's legs, feels her friend's gentle exhalation at the touch. She curls two fingers inside, and earns a gasp. She pulls her hand away and holds it out to Jake. "What do you think?" she says. "Is she ready for your cock?"

Jake breathes in deep. "Just a little more. Ax can keep going while I get my clothes off. He's good at that."

"You heard your prince," Cassie tells Ax.

He steps up behind Rachel and cups her cheek in a tender kiss. His other hand drops down, two fingers spreading her, two on her clit, two inside her. Cassie captures her moans with her mouth. She pulls back and watches Ax dip a finger deep into Rachel, then use her wetness to ease the finger two joints deep into her ass. Rachel stiffens and gives a little cry into Cassie's neck.

Jake's arm wraps around Cassie's waist, and she turns to see him naked and half-hard beside her. She holds Rachel upright with one arm and pulls Jake in with the other, pressing him into a fierce kiss.

"Tobias, put a condom on him," Cassie says.

Tobias fumbles for a condom from a storage bin in Ax's scoop. He tears open the packet, gives Jake a firm stroke, and puts the condom on the tip of his cock, rolling it down. He looks back up at Jake's face and smiles tentatively.

"Thanks," Jake says, and smiles back.

Rachel's been watching. Her eyes linger on Jake's cock. Ax's fingers scissor inside her, stretching.

"I think we're set," Cassie says. "Ax, hold her steady."

Rachel leans back against Ax, his arms wrapping around her waist. Jake grabs her from beneath, lifting her legs to circle his hips, and slides in. Rachel's head falls back against Ax's shoulder. She reaches out, tucks her hands around the back of Jake's neck. He makes tiny movements with his hips, in and out.

"Harder," Cassie says. "Marco, stand behind Jake and help him hold up Rachel's legs."

He does. Cassie can see the bulge in his bike shorts, nestled up against Jake's ass. He holds Rachel's calves, feels them move in his grip as Jake thrusts harder.

"A little… upward… _there_ ," Rachel groans. "C'mon, Jake, need it, do it more."

Marco rolls his hips against Jake's ass, urging him onward. Ax watches where Rachel and Jake join with his main eyes, and stares at Jake's face with his stalk eyes. Cassie wraps her arms around Tobias from behind. Her owl eyes take in everything.

“Rachel needs Ax on her clit, Tobias,” Cassie murmurs in his ear. “Go get some wipes to clean his hands.”

Tobias goes. He likes being of use, Cassie has noticed. He gets a moist towelette from the scoop, and cleans Ax’s hand diligently when he withdraws from Rachel’s body. He presses a kiss to Ax’s knuckles, then guides the hand to Rachel’s clit.

Ax's fingers and Jake's thrusts fall into a perfect rhythm, the two coordinating between them with their eyes. Rachel is keening, Jake panting like he's running a race. Marco latches onto Jake's shoulder with his mouth and bites down. Jake says, " _Aaahh_ ," and comes.

Jake pulls out, his breath shaky, and slowly lowers Rachel's legs back to the ground. He takes off the condom and ties it. Tobias takes it from him and throws it and the packet into Ax's trash bin.

Cassie holds her hand out to Jake, who stands beside her and takes it. “Marco," says Cassie. "Your turn."

He steps forward. "How are you feeling, Rachel? Loosened up?" He leans into her, just the right height to kiss her collarbone, and his hand drops, his thumb firm on her clit, fingers exploring. "Mmm," he murmurs into her skin. "Almost ready for me." He tips his head back to flash a grin at her. "Got any ideas?"

"A few," Rachel says, low, and shoves him down to his knees. She grabs his long hair and tilts his head up. His erection is full and firm, longer and thicker than Jake's. He's far too smug about it, and Rachel and Cassie can never resist bringing his ego to heel. "But _I_ decide when I'm ready. And you're going to eat me out exactly the way I want you to."

She tugs on Marco's hair and presses his face between her legs. "Use your mouth for something besides making dumb jokes, or I'll make you."

"Make me," Marco says, a little muffled.

Rachel pulls back on his hair, squats down, and grinds herself against Marco's mouth. His lips part, unconsciously, and she rubs against his open mouth, her moisture dripping down to coat his face. He groans into her cunt, and gives in, offering his tongue to her, letting her ride it.

"Jake was here first," Rachel taunts, between growls of pleasure. "You're the cleanup crew."

Marco groans again, helplessly, his cock leaking at the tip. Then his eyes go mischievous and he _hums_ , moving his lips in a rhythm counterpoint to hers. Rachel screams, wordlessly, scrabbling at Marco's scalp with her nails. Fluids gush over his face.

Rachel sinks to her knees, boneless. Marco smirks at Ax and Jake. Rachel notices and grabs him by the hair again. "Don't think I can't turn the tables," she growls. "I could start morphing squid. I'm not Cassie, but I'm sure my tentacles would be long enough before I stopped being able to breathe..."

Marco gives a full-body shudder.

"You'd let me do it to you, wouldn't you?" She loosens her grip so he can nod. "But that wouldn't feel as good for me," she says, "so get on your back."

Marco lies back on the grass.

"Ax, get a condom," Rachel says.

It's dark, so it takes him a moment, but Ax finds a condom and opens the packet. < Would you like to, Rachel, or shall I? >

"You do it. And hold him down with your tail, so he doesn't get any ideas."

Ax lays his tail across Marco's chest, his blade well clear, a coiled spring of muscle holding him down. He rolls the condom down in a single neat movement.

"Keep him like that," Rachel says. "Tobias, come here."

Tobias comes forward, his bike shorts too tight over his erection. Rachel straddles Marco, his big smooth cock up against her ass, and pulls Tobias by the hands to kneel in front of her, his knees astride Marco's legs. She holds him close, gets up on her knees, then bites down on his shoulder in a muffled scream as she stretches herself wide around Marco's cock.

Marco clenches his fingers in the grass and jerks his hips up. “No,” Cassie says sharply. “Rachel sets the pace. You keep your ass on the ground or I tell her to play with someone else. Ax, make sure he stays down.”

Rachel gives Cassie a heated, grateful look over her shoulder, then makes out messily with Tobias, leaving his mouth and chin shiny with spit. She rocks fractionally on Marco, holding onto Tobias’ waist for leverage.Cassie rubs circles into Jake’s palm with her thumb as she watches, heat rising through her. It’ll be so good when she gets her turn with Rachel.

Tobias’ mouth wanders, kissing down Rachel’s neck. Her hands come around to cup his ass. “Scratch her, Tobias,” Cassie says. “She’ll like that.”

Tobias growls a little, pulls her toward his greedy mouth with his hands on her shoulder blades, leaving trails of red with his nails. It sets off a chain reaction. She gasps, arches her back, rocks herself harder on Marco. He lets out a whimper like he might be dying. Sweat plasters long strands of black hair to his face. Ax, drawn by the sight, brushes the hair off his face and insinuates his fingers between Marco’s lips. Marco sucks on them hard, muffling his cries.

Rachel rides Marco in earnest now, sweat breaking out on her face and chest as she bounces up and down on her knees. Cassie can hear the wet sounds as Rachel opens for Marco’s cock, over and over. Tobias shifts a hand around to press just above her mound, to feel Rachel move around him. He dips his head and licks Rachel’s nipple. She lets out a little scream and clenches on Marco, hard. His mouth tightens around Ax’s fingers and his eyes roll back in his head.

“Should I let Marco come?” Cassie asks Rachel.

Rachel bares her teeth. “Not until I do.”

Tobias sucks on her nipple, hard, and moves his palm further down. Rachel pants and rides Tobias’ hand and Marco’s cock until she gasps out an orgasm. Ax moves his spit-slick fingers from Marco’s mouth to his nipple and pinches. Marco gives a startlingly high-pitched scream and comes, only the weight of Ax’s tail on his chest keeping him from a full-body spasm. Jake squeezes Cassie’s hand and leans his head against hers, eyes falling half-closed. They exchange a quiet smile.

Rachel pulls off Marco with a slick sound and falls forward into Tobias’ arms. He pulls her back, gently, and she settles on his lap with a shimmy of her hips. Tobias groans at the pressure on his cock, his forehead coming to rest against hers.

Ax takes the condom off Marco and goes to his scoop to get rid of it. He points a stalk eye at his storage bin and another at Cassie in a silent question. She nods, and he gets another condom packet out.

Rachel rolls her hips against Tobias’ clothed erection in steady movements. His bike shorts are already damp with her arousal. His hands are tucked beneath her ass, holding her up. There’s a look of sweet torture on his face as they kiss. Cassie watches and moves Jake’s hand to the soaked crotch of her leotard. He lets out a long sigh and rocks his palm against her clit, just the way she likes it.

“You don’t have to let her tease you, Tobias,” she says. “Give it to her whenever you’re ready. And make it good and hard.”

But Tobias wants to be teased. He lets her go on until his whole upper body flushes pink. Ax laces his fingers through Marco’s and watches them with his main eyes, his stalk eyes focused on the slow rhythm of Jake’s hand between Cassie’s legs. Cassie worries Tobias might come in his shorts, but he sucks hard on Rachel’s lip and pants, “Someone get me a condom before I explode.”

Ax gives Marco’s hand a squeeze, then gets up for a condom. Reluctantly, Tobias pushes Rachel off his lap into a spread-eagle on the ground so he can strip his sweaty clothes off. His cock is dark purple and leaking. Ax rolls the condom on him with a flick of the wrist. < Do you need anything else, my _shorm_?  >

Tobias takes Ax’s hand and kisses his knuckles. “Stay here. Position us if you think we could use a better angle.”

There is such warmth in Ax’s eyes that Cassie has the sudden absurd sense of intruding on something private. < As you wish. >

Tobias lets go of Ax’s hand and settles over Rachel, pulling their mouths and bodies together in one hard movement. Her legs wrap around his waist as he gives it to her, hard, just as Cassie told him to do. She hums and laughs into his mouth, her hair forming a halo around her on the grass. Ax takes her feet in his hands, lifting them up, and the angle makes her tip her head back, exposing the line of her throat to Tobias’ kisses. She is so beautiful like this. Cassie puts her hand on top of Jake’s, grinding down into his palm in time with Tobias’ thrusts. Marco sits at Jake’s feet, knees tucked up to his chest, watching with a dreamy little smile on his face that Cassie rarely sees. Somehow, the sight of him looking up at her like that makes everything as bright and hard as an overexposed photograph, and Cassie feels a moan flutter out of her throat as she comes in her leotard.

Tobias must have heard her, because it doesn’t take him long after that to finish, and as always, he does it in utter silence. Only his slack, peaceful face and the fine trembling in his muscles give it away. Rachel pets his hair and coos. Ax kneels down and gathers Tobias in his arms.

Cassie steps forward, takes Rachel’s hands, and hauls her to her feet. She morphs away her owl eyes, and stands in front of Rachel, just as herself. She kisses her best friend, long and soft. “Ready for me?”

“Yes, Cassie,” she says, breathlessly, eyes bright. “Please.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes, Cassie. Always.”

Cassie seizes Rachel by the shoulders and pushes her up against a tree. She parts Rachel’s legs with her knee, curves her canines into a wolf’s, and rests their tips around Rachel’s throat, just enough to leave four points of pressure. She can feel Rachel’s pulse thudding against her tongue. Then she grinds the hard muscle of her thigh against the heat between Rachel’s legs, relishing the slickness of her come against her skin. Rachel holds one hand against Cassie’s neck, as if to hold open the trap of her teeth, and the other around Cassie’s hip, hard enough to bruise. She moans in little stutters of breath, but holds herself back, afraid to cut herself on Cassie’s teeth. Cassie has her, this beautiful blazing firework called Rachel. She _has_ her.

She is merciless. She moves a hand around to grab Rachel’s ass and pull her in hard against every thrust of her thigh. She’s making Rachel ride it at _her_ pace, so she can do nothing but hold onto Cassie for dear life. Cassie wishes she could keep these finger-shaped bruises on her hip, as a memento of how Rachel had held herself in check for her.

Cassie hears a telltale quickening of breath, loosens her jaws from Rachel’s neck, and slurs through her wolf teeth, “Do it. Come, now. I want to hear you scream.”

Rachel’s legs clamp tight around her thigh, and she cries out, so high and loud Cassie almost worries her parents will hear. Cassie wraps her arms around Rachel’s waist and doesn’t let her fall. “Got what you needed?” she says, searching Rachel’s half-hooded eyes.

“Yeah,” she breathes. “Thank you, Cassie. That was… yeah.”

“Need any of us to stay the rest of the night with you?”

Rachel shakes her head. “My mom has to wake up early for court tomorrow. I’m in charge of getting Jordan and Sara to school. It’s too dangerous.”

“It could be worth the risk.”

Rachel presses a gentle kiss to her mouth. “No. No, it isn’t.”

Cassie looks back over her shoulder. “Jake, Marco. You live near her. Fly her home, OK? Make sure she gets to bed all right.”

They nod.

Rachel looks down at the scratches and hickeys, splashes and strokes of red on the pale canvas of her skin. Cassie can see how she hates to lose them. But it’s the least of the sacrifices she has to make. She watches the feathers race across her skin and erase all traces of the night, and wonders whose crisis will be next, and how they will choose to exorcise it.


End file.
